Jewel "feeling better," should "be good" for 'Dancing with the Stars'

By Christopher Rocchio, 03/01/2009

Jewel Kilcher' knee tendinitis has apparently gone from a five-alarm fire that could have hindered her participation in Dancing with the Stars' upcoming season to a mere brush fire that is only expected to prevent her from practicing for a few more days.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I went to the physical therapist yesterday and I can say that I am feeling better! He said if I take time now to heal that I will be good to go by next week," Jewel wrote in her blog on Thursday. "I hate missing these days, but it's all for the best in the long run, because I'm in it for the long haul and I wanna win it!"

Jewel's claim of a quick recovery came a day after the singer wrote on her blog that she had developed knee tendinitis while training with first-time professional Dmitry Chaplin to compete on the ABC dance reality competition's upcoming eighth season.

Making matters worse, Jewel additionally stated that she might have to withdraw from the competition if the swelling persisted.

However the potentially grim assessment on her blog became a "minor setback" by Wednesday night and now she's simply eager to continue practicing.

"I'm excited to get back to work next week dancing, hopefully it didn't cause me to get too far behind all the other contestants," she wrote on her blog. "I only had 3 weeks to prepare, and now it will be only 2 weeks - which isn't much considering how much I have to learn. All I can do is what I'm doing and to try and have fun- which I am!"

Jewel also joked about her husband Ty Murray -- who will also be competing on Dancing with the Stars' eighth season with former So You Think You Can Dance contestant Chelsea Hightower -- now having a leg up on her due to the injury.

"Ty and Chelsea are taking advantage of out-practicing me now!" she wrote. "We don't really feel that competitive against each other, we really just feel supportive and sympathetic for how hard the process is, and we are glad to share it together; but we do like to joke about it being a race."

Dancing with the Stars' eighth season will premiere with a two-hour performance episode on Monday, March 9 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.